I'm thinking if there are any light geostationary comsats (say 2 to 3.5 tonnes) around that had never had a launch contract announced, or even without their identities known, that might be launching by now.

For example, there was that 3 Boeing 702SP order from the US government in 2013 that cannot be pinned down to any known satellite and was once floated around as a candidate for NROL-76 earlier this year. So far none of them seemed to have been launched yet, and if they are launched on F9 one at a time the 1st stage would have easily made an RTLS.

Does SpaceX need to file papers with FCC if it's a government payload? I thought the filing is only for commercial launches. Kind of defeat the purpose of a secret payload if you have to get public license from FCC.

In these FCC licenses, the "operation start date" of the"requested period of operation" (here November 10) is not necessarily the planned launch date..For example the requested period of operation for the last Iridium Next launch from Vandenberg (SpaceX Mission 1339)[/font] started on September 30, and the launch took place on October 9

In these FCC licenses, the "operation start date" of the"requested period of operation" (here November 10) is not necessarily the planned launch date..For example the requested period of operation for the last Iridium Next launch from Vandenberg (SpaceX Mission 1339)[/font] started on September 30, and the launch took place on October 9

When they filed the launch license for Iridium 3, 30 September was the target launch date. It then slipped to 4 Oct and then 9 Oct.